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Automotive companies are laser-focused on the future. For example, General Motors, Ford, Mercedes, and VW are rallying resources to invest in electric vehicles to ensure Tesla doesn't go away with all of its customers.

Car companies are filling their new vehicles with technology many of which are unlikely to be used. To be fair, there are certain technologies like lane departure warnings, blind spot monitors, and reversing cameras that make driving safer. With Alexa, Siri, Sirius and all kinds of streaming, weather and traffic, vehicles are now running information and entertainment theaters.

With all these modern accessories, why are the mainstream auto companies still lost in the 1950s mindset when it comes to selling these amazing vehicles to customers?

The flawed conquest mindset

Instead of changing the approach to customer sales, the established automotive companies and their dealerships still see new customers as "conquests". We are waiting to be conquered. We are the quarry looking for the next sale.

A Google search will give you an exceptional selection of articles, definitions, strategies, and YouTube videos on Conquest Marketing, Conquest Sales, and Overcoming Conquest Problems. The idea of ​​"conquest" comes from the Latin for "to conquer". Other synonyms are seize, catch, catch, defeat or triumph.

What is "Conquest Marketing"? Conquest marketing isn't that different from its historical significance. Conquest marketing is about attracting, capturing, capturing, defeating, or defeating potential customers who buy from competing merchants in order to convince them to buy from your merchant.

In conquest marketing, a conquest sale is a term that describes a sale to an especially hotly contested customer who has no specific reason to shop in one store from another, or to buy a specific item or service from another.

According to an online automotive merchandising source, conquest marketing revolves around two specific topics: dealerships focus on 1) getting you to buy the same vehicle from them instead of a previous dealer, or 2) you off convince another brand to buy them, not someone else. In both cases, you as a potential buyer are a target to be conquered.

The manufacturer provides Conquest Cash as ammunition for the hunt for conquests. Traders use this money to buy market share. They rely on incentives to lure you into selling. Incentives are nice to the buyer. However, over-emphasis on Conquest Cash for customer acquisition hurts the brand's reputation.

Recently, Automotive News, a leading industry magazine, published an article titled "Infiniti QX60 Aims for Conquest". In the article, Infiniti Chairman Peyman Kargar said the following about the QX60 (an upcoming three-row, medium-sized crossover with a premium design): “We are beginning a new era for Infiniti. We will win more customers. This is really one of the important goals we have and this has to do with the extra extra volume we are aiming for. We are very confident. "

This view of customers, potential car buyers, is outdated and touchless. Rather than viewing customers as victims to be conquered, view customers as savvy people who are convinced of a superior brand experience. The rise of brands like Carvana shows that it is better to consider car buyers savvy. Carvana's idea is to change the way people buy cars by providing fun, fast, fair, technology-based and socially responsible car resolution.

Beware of the Allison Fisher funnel

Part of the automotive industry's perception problem with respect to customers is the persistent belief in the Allison-Fisher funnel approach to car buying. The Allison Fisher funnel is an outdated marketing approach. Given this model, a potential car buyer is in a funnel that goes through various stages from awareness to familiarity and opinion to considering model intent, purchase and purchase. The merchant wants to own the customer during the process and capture the sale at the end of the funnel.

The internet changed the game. Market research firm J. D. Power & Associates states that potential buyers use the Internet at every stage of the shopping process. Internet browsing, reviews, pricing information, shopping and decision making, buying and delivery. The manufacturer and the dealer no longer have control over the so-called funnel.

A second challenge with the well-known Allison Fisher funnel is that there is little or no room for brand and dealer loyalty. Every customer is a new customer who can be won. A primary goal of marketing is to create, strengthen and expand the base of customers who remain loyal to the brand and / or the retailer. It is important to get new customers. However, building brand loyalty is crucial.

With conquest marketing, every sale is a unique event. In conquest marketing, every sale is a year-over-year sale. Brand loyalty is not taken into account. The marketing focus is on conquering with a discount.

In today's world, the last thing a car buyer wants is a conquest. At the same time, manufacturers are focusing on conquest marketing by relying on an over-reliance on tactics that degrade, degrade, and potentially destroy brand equity. Until the entire automotive industry rejects this approach, the unfortunate, business-centric marketing will continue. In the meantime, car buyers are turning to brands like Carvana or Cars.com, where they are viewed as people who are not prey.

Contribution to Branding Strategy Insider by: Larry Light, CEO of Arcature

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